Fruity

I love fruit jelly candies. They go by many different names and forms depending on where they originate and you may easily recognize them in the forms of pâtes de fruit, jelly belly beans and gummi bears to name just a few. These jellied sweets (made either with gelatin, pectin, or sometimes agar agar) deliver bold fruity flavors and satisfying textures, both of which make my knees feel as if they were made of jelly too.

Imagine my delight as I saw these on the shelf during one of my first visits to a Cost Plus World Market with Cybele. There were many different foreign candy options to choose from, but these German “fruit gelees” caught my eye immediately. The package beautifully illustrates the candies as variation of the traditional pâtes de fruit in a variety of colorful shapes. It was really too much for me to resist.

Taking the candies out of the package, I couldn’t help but feel I was handling little edible jewels. The are strikingly beautiful, with bright colors and a nice glittering effect from their granulated sugar coating. Taking a bite I find that the texture is just lovely: a little on the firm side, which is not as tough as a gum drop but still enough to hold it all together. You teeth sink into them like you would a tender steak; slowly and savoring each moment.

Kirsche (cherry): Round red one: The flavor is the oddest and most authentic cherry I’ve had I think. It’s tart, slightly sweet, and has a spicy fruity flavor that’s a little bitter.Ananas (pineapple): Tear dropped white one: The flavor is sweet and starchy with notes of sweet juicy pineapple. Toward the end of the flavor there’s a nice burst of tartness to it. Milder than the real thing and the less “authentic” flavor of the bunch, but still really tasty.

These are wonderful and make me realize that I need to eat more of this type of candy more often. I wish they’d be more mainstream and therefore easier to find, as I always feel like it’s a bit of a hunt to come across treats like these. The flip side is they feel like treasure when I do, and perhaps seeing them more often would kill the magic (and my waistline). I can count on these to deliver flavor and sweetness when I need it most and it’s a special craving that only jellied candy can satisfy. I strongly urge you to give these a try if you see them, as it’ll introduce your taste buds to something amazing.

The only thing keeping me from giving these a “Hoard” rating is that there’s so many jellied candies out there, I gotta make room to try them all before I decide on a favorite.

I’m not a big gum chewer. I don’t know what it is about the stuff: the excessive chewing, the transient flavor, or the lack of swallowing. There’s just something about gum that doesn’t sit right with me. I’m not even that interested the potential breath freshening that so many chew gum for in the first place. I’d rather have a mint.

I cannot really explain why I picked these up. Morbid curiosity perhaps? I can’t remember the shopping trip in detail, as it easily could have been an act of desperation since I didn’t find anything in the candy aisle that was new. Looking at the boxes once I was at home, I felt better about my purchase. With words such as “New!” and “Sensations” written on it, how bad could it be? Artificial sweeteners aside, the design coaxed me into thinking I’d actually enjoy this gum.

The packages are set up unlike any gum I’ve had before (even though that doesn’t say much). The flap opens at the top and folds nicely inwards, revealing the rows of full sized sticks of gum. They’re immediately fragrant, just begging to be chewed.

Strawberry Banana: Very powerful on the banana end with the tell tale starchy sweetness. The strawberry is fresh and adds a nice tart berry edge.

Berry Paradise: I was pleased by how flavorful this was. I got strong notes of pear and blackberries and enjoyed how distinguishable they were.

Sweet Watermelon: Wow, this flavor is so juicy! It has that standard artificial watermelon flavor with those odd tangy floral flavors, but it’s mellowed by the rush of saliva that the chewing creates.

I liked the watermelon best out of the three even though the flavor isn’t unique to the Fruit Sensations line, which is usually a big selling point for me. The flavors lasted a decent length of time in my mouth, so I felt satisfied in that regard. Still, as nice as the flavors were, something about this still doesn’t catch me. I feel I am forever doomed in regard to gum appreciation, so I encourage those of you who do love the stuff, these are worth giving a try.

These gummis were introduced by Hershey’s sometime in the early 1990s. This is yet another example of a candy whose mesmerizing commercial caught me every time. I guess Hershey’s had a real cracker jack marketing team back then during my childhood.

I had practicaly forgotten about these until I saw them in the candy kiosk in my local mall. I seriously thought they were discontinued or something. But how could I deny the fact that I saw them there staring back at me from amongst the Haribo and Trolli gummi bear packs? I figured they were probably ancient, but curiously got the best of me and I was paying for a few packs next thing I knew. No matter how bad they may taste, I couldn’t help resisting the nostalgia.

The packing is certainly eye catching with it’s simplistic 90’s styled graphic design and bold colors. The little bears are only a little over an inch long with not much detail. They have little nubbins for legs and arms and slightly protruding dots for ears, eyes and a nose. The texture is very chewy and they are very hard to chew at first. Only after a bit do they slowly become softer. The colors are ghastly to me, very pale and washed out and not appetizing at all.

Green Apple (green): Light, floral and juicy apple flavor. It’s very natural, not sour or fake tasting when I think of jolly ranchers. More of a fuji/gold delicious flavor

Grape (odd purple): This tasted floral and slightly juicy and has a very slight concord grape flavor.

Orange (orange): Almost impossibly hard to decipher from the strawberry and I only did so by holding them up to a light bulb. This is very bright and citrusy, and the orange tootsie pop immediately comes to mind.

Cherry (red): The most intense of the colors. The flavor is mild with a deep floral note to it. It does read as cherry, but not medicinal.

Strawberry (also orangish): Light with a good authentic berry flavor. My second favorite of them all.

Pineapple (light yellow): My favorite! It has a bright, sweet pineapple flavor with a hint of tartness.

So they weren’t impressive to me in the least. I don’t know if it was that my pack was old or if the “natural” flavor that Hershey marketed with these is just no competition for what’s available today. I’m happy to just remember them as memory serves me best: not as candy, but as really awesome commercials.

Spree were candies I was never particularly drawn to. I witnessed them being enjoyed by many of my friends and family, but there was something about them that never called to me. I think a big reason was the fact that I am such a big fan of Starburst, that I couldn’t imagine fitting another chewy fruity candy into my regular rotation. Especially one that I didn’t think would compete on the same level.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I decided to give them a try. It was all my roommate’s doing, as she had bought a bunch and was munching away on them in the living room. My “candy that I haven’t tried yet” radar went off and I immediately went to check out her sugar-fest. The next day I made sure to pick some up at the store for adequate Candy Enthusiast tastings.

These are about the size of nickels and double the thickness. They come in grape, cherry, apple, orange and lemon, white are pretty run of the mill in terms of fruit flavored candy offerings. The texture of these is fun, as it takes a bit of pressure to get the shell to crack. I prefer to shove them back to my molars for the job. Once broken, there’s a very nice flavor release and the center gives a nice chew. I find that it takes a good 10-25 chomps before everything dissolves. It’s very satisfying to eat.

Grape: Nothing about this tasted like grape to me. It really just tastes sour.

Apple: I do get apple notes here: fruity, juicy and a little spice to them as if cinnamon was added. The sour works well with it too, making it more “true to life”.

Cherry: Very berry like, not much of a cherry flavor, more of a generic “red”. The tartness is more pronounced in this and it gaves me a little throat burn.

Orange: This is going to sound strange, but this tasted of the orange Fruit Loop. Just add some tartness to it and you got this flavor to a T.

Lemon: It took a couple of chews before I got the flavor to come out. It’s not as zesty and sour as I hoped, but it does have a light lemony taste to it. I want more of it.

I found these pleasant and I prefer the texture of these to the flavors, which is regrettable since you mainly want to eat candy for how it tastes. Texture is only part of the equation, and sadly it isn’t enough for me to pick these up in the future. If only they tasted as sumptuous as they look!

Yes, I am aware that these are way past their original release date of last fall. I saw them at one of my local candy haunts and thought I’d swipe them up before they disappeared or end up inedible. So here you are .The code on the back says 727FRCLVO*, so they’re really not past their prime.

The package is an obnoxious bright pink with, I’m guessing, a relative of Red standing behind a large raspberry made of M&Ms pieces (logo and all) with a very sassy look on his face. With an expression like that, I’d expect it to be reserved for Green!

The actual M&Ms are on the larger side, about the same as I remember the old Crispy M&Ms being. They share the same bright pink color as the packaging with the white “M” stamped onto them. There’s no aroma so it’s hard to gage what the flavor will be like.

As for the taste, well, it’s…odd. I admit they do taste like raspberry, but not the type of raspberry you’d want to be eating. It’s terribly artificial with strong floral notes that really overpower any actual “berry” flavor present. It’s such a loud flavor and it reminds me of old Bath and Body works perfume: powerfully smelly and so far removed from the natural essence that it’s hard to identify it anymore. Thankfully you do taste the chocolate. It provides a brief respite from the “razzberry” taste and delivers a solid chocolate flavor and a good sweetness.

After tasting a few of these I feel like I had perfume sprayed on my tongue.

I’m glad that these were a limited edition release that didn’t last too long. The concept of the raspberry flavor is good, but the execution of the flavors really don’t work for me. They’re best to be avoided.